New poll shows political blocs remain deadlocked

A new poll published by Channel 12 news shows Likud climbing to 34 seats, above the 30 the party currently holds.

According to the poll — carried out despite no upcoming election in Israel — Yesh Atid would receive 19 seats, two more than its current 17, Shas and Blue and White would get 9, Labor, United Torah Judaism, and Religious Zionism 7 each, Yamina, Joint List, and Yisrael Beytenu 6 each, and Meretz and Ra’am 5 apiece. New Hope would receive 0 seats.

But such results would lead to a similar deadlock to that which plagued Israel for the past three years, leading to four elections within a short timeframe. The current coalition parties would muster 57 seats between them, the Benjamin Netanyahu-backing opposition parties would also have 57, and the Joint List of mainly Arab parties would hold the other six.

Respondents were also asked whether they preferred Netanyahu as prime minister or Naftali Bennett, with 45 percent choosing the former premier, and 25% going for the present one.